It’s a cold winter’s dream dinner – butternut squash, spinach, and pasta tossed in a single bowl with ricotta and parmesan and baked in a parchment lined springform pan. The pasta isn’t even cooked ahead of time, it bakes right in the pan. How easy is that?
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 cup parmesan cheese, divided
- 1 cup fontina or mozzarella cheese
- 1 1/4 cup chicken stock or water
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 3/4 tablespoon Morton’s kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 5 oz. baby spinach, roughly chopped
- 1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh sage leaves
- 3/4 lb. butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced into small pieces
- 8 oz. uncooked Mafaldine pasta, broken into 1″ pieces*
- Preheat oven to 350º. Line a 9″ springform pan with 3″ sides with parchment paper. Press the paper into place, folding the sides to get a good fit.
- In a large bowl, whisk the egg and ricotta. Add 1/2 cup of the parmesan, mozzarella (or fontina), chicken broth (or water), 2 tablespoons olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, garlic – mix until well combined.
- Add the spinach, mushrooms, sage, butternut squash, and pasta – make sure all of the ingredients are coated. Pour into prepared pan, and sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. Fold in the edges of the parchment, cover with foil, place in the oven for 1 hour.
- When the hour is up, remove foil, and drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Place back in the oven and bake uncovered for another 1/2 hour.
- Cool on a wire rack for 1/2 hour before removing the springform ring – this allows the dish to set up. Remove ring, and slide the pasta bake off of the parchment onto a serving dish. Cut it into wedges and serve.
* Mafaldine pasta is made by Anna, it looks like 1/2″ wide lasagne noodles. San Giorgio makes Mafalda, if neither are available you can use lasagna noodles broken into pieces.
